Cult Corner: Yes, You Can Watch More Seasons Of ‘The Great British Baking Show’ Online

When we talk about streaming culture, we’re usually enthusing about what’s new, but one of the best things about streaming is how it’s made old and obscure cult hits available to a new generation. Presenting Cult Corner: your weekly look into hidden gems and long-lost curiosities that you can find on streaming.

The Great British Baking Show hit Netflix late last year and won over our Yankee Doodle hearts with its adorable contestants, impressive sponges, and altogether lovely double entendres. The show is a monster hit in the United Kingdom (where it’s dubbed The Great British Bake-Off) and inspires the kind of hysteria we’d only associate with massive sporting events like March Madness.

Still, as wonderful as it was for most of us to binge-watch some of the latest and greatest seasons of the show, going through them so fast left us in a lurch. The blessing and curse of binge-watching is that you can speed through a show with delightful abandon, but after you’re done…there’s nothing left. You have to wait months, even years, to get new episodes. And while PBS has the rights to air new seasons before they hit Netflix, there is still a gulf between when they air on the free station and are back on streaming.

We’re going to let you in on a little sneaky secret: Yes, you can watch more seasons of The Great British Baking Show for free online. No, you don’t have to torrent them, but they still aren’t totally legal. They’re on YouTube.

American Anglophiles are deeply aware that there is an army of intrepid Brits who are willing to post bootlegs of their nation’s best television on the world wide web. Search hard enough and you can find full seasons and episodes of the latest British talk shows, concert specials, and reality television behemoths. You can watch The Big Fat Quiz Show, your favorite British heartthrob on Jonathan Ross, or even delve into the entire season of X-Factor that spawned One Direction. It’s great stuff!

Several kind souls have indeed put whole seasons of The Great British Bake Off on YouTube. That means you can finally catch the early iterations of this show via your computer or favorite mobile or streaming device. So, what’s the catch? Like we said, they are illegal bootlegs. That means the quality won’t be hi-definition and it’s possible these files can be pulled at any time. Watch at your own risk!

We’d recommend that you start with the very first series — as the beginning is always a good place to start. There are several playlists you can check out and only six episodes to get through!